C2C - 'Tetra'

So far I've heard Tetra described by various people as a brilliantly infectious piece of big beat, and the biggest piece of repetitive, derivative bullshit to ever grace an iPod. To be honest, it’s hard to settle on one opinion of Tetra. The fact is that there’s more truth in the disparity between those two description than there is in either one of them as an accurate summing up pf the record. At times it feels genuinely great, with menacing, digital basslines writhing on to top of huge beats (‘Arcades’), or funked-out grooves and snappy lyrics coming together to create something with the easily likeable qualities of the best pop and the hearty, sturdy rhythms of funk and dance music (‘Genius’, ‘Together’). But at other times Tetra sounds plasticky and, admittedly, derivative. It seems to lean towards techno/electro repetition in the wrong ways at the wrong times. Part of the issue is that Tetra works as an album in a way that none of the tracks do individually. Listening to a lot of the tunes in isolation, you find yourself wondering how something so awful could’ve found its way on to your computer; it sounds like poor pop music trying hard to sound like dance music. But when you hear those same tracks in the context of the album they seem the perfectly selected components of a brilliantly crafted whole. Listening to Tetra from start to finish what stands out are the immensely enjoyable songs, the energising beats and the knack for turntablism that took the four French DJs to being DMC World Team DJ Champions four years in a row. As a first full-length production effort from four DJs is a terrific effort. Not only will there be people who don’t like this album, there’ll be people who hate it. But there’ll be more people who think it’s amazing.